Citizenship initiative 'No Convicts in Public Office' mandatorily amends the Constitution (USR's Barna)

Chairman of Save Romania Union (USR) Dan Barna told on Thursday a press conference in Pitesti that the citizens' initiative 'No Convicts in Public Office' will necessarily lead to the amendment of the Constitution. "This citizens' initiative, supported by USR with all its energy, mandatorily amends the Constitution. It is not a consultative referendum, such as the one that the President will organize on May 26 (...). This referendum, just as the one for the 300 MPs is advisory, the citizens say 'yes, I would like it to be so', after which Parliament should adopt a law. And this is not the case for the 300 MPs for which Romania voted. In the case of the citizens' initiative to amend the Constitution, going through the steps, get through the Constitutional Court, follows a vote in Parliament, a referendum that automatically puts that article in the Constitution, and that is why this fight is worth taking forward," Barna said in Pitesti. The USR leader added that the bill for the amendment of the Constitution would enter Parliament's agenda, at worst after the next legislative elections. "USR and the USR-PLUS [Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity. ed.n.] Alliance have exactly that in their governing program, that by 2020 at the latest, when we get to govern, this constitutional amendment be put on the agenda of Parliament," said Dan Barna. The 'No Convicts in Public Office' initiative proposes that Article 37 of the Constitution, which regulates the right to be elected, should be completed with a new paragraph, with the following content: "Citizens permanently convicted of deprivation of liberty for intentional crimes cannot be elected in the bodies of the local public administration, in the Chamber of Deputies, in the Senate and as President of Romania until a situation that removes the consequences of the conviction intervenes." The Constitutional Court of Romania decided on Tuesday that the citizen's legislative initiative to review the Fundamental Law, which requires that the persons with final convictions can no longer occupy public positions, meets the constitutional provisions.AGERPRES(RO - author: George Onea, editor: Marius Fratila; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)

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